David Nyarsuk put on 30-35 pounds over the summer and is confident it will help him continue with his adjustment to Division I basketball. The Enquirer/ Joseph Fuqua II

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The text messages began popping up on Mick Cronin's phone at about 6:30 on the morning of Sept. 18shortly afterthe University of Cincinnati basketball coach, who had been on a recruiting trip, landed at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport at the end of a long red-eye flight from Southern California.

The first one was from senior forward Justin Jackson informing him that David Nyarsuk had come to his room crying at 3:30 that morning.

"I didn't know what happened at first," Jackson said. "I said, 'What's wrong?'He said his dad died. I did everything I could to be there for him." ...